Not improving???!?!?!?

Hello everyone,

I used to be around a 1400-1450 rated level, but my skills have evidently dropped and I can't figure out how to improve myself.

Through other means I have access to a diamond membership (not on this account though), I think I tried very hard to improve within 2 months time.

Within 2 months, I watched around 30-35 chess videos and practised tactics 2-3 times a week with 20-30 problems each time. Before those 2 months, I completed 30 minutes of chess mentor lessons a day for 3 months. 

I don't know whether my chess skills are bad, thus making my live chess rating bad (I tested out my skills by playing live chess at the end of each week when I tried to improve myself in those 2 months).

At the moment I am participating in a big 10 day tournament (under 2100) and my score is 2 out of 6, one of them effectively a bye, playing the easiest player in the field. A real score of 1 out of 5 is making me lose faith in myself.

Please suggest any strategy to help me improve! I have another 5 day tournament later on this month and I don't want 2016 to start off as a bad year for my chess!

Thanks in advance!

I think you should download a perfect chess trainer for android or iOS. You can here change your strategy as (although this is my opinion).... 1.View Annotated PGNs 2.Attend Lectures 3.Opening Explorer 4.Guess the Move 5.Train Opening 6.Train Tactics 7.Train Position 8.Train Blunders: Best to see your or grandmaster games... in this section... game graphs,mistake, blunders all are given with substitutes improved lines. 9.Memorize Full Games. I think this will help u.. All the best!!!!

Don't feel discouraged. We all experience this type of frustration. Could it be that you have improved, and that other players are improving as well? Chess has become even more improved over recent years than it has ever been in the past. Keep working at it. Play chess because you enjoy it as a hobby, not so much base it on the score you obtain. It sounds like you are doing a ton of training and practice. Could it be you are doing too much? It is a known truth that you are doomed to fail if you put too much emphasis on winning every game. The scores are not reflective on how much you have improved.

A. You really should not be sharing an account (especially one that is a paid for account). It is against the TOS. Having multiple accounts is also a no-no.

https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1444969-can-i-share-computers-with-another-member-

https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1444776-can-i-have-multiple-accounts-

B. Two months is not enough time to thnk you are getting bad or getting better. Chess is a journey, one to be enjoyed not one that is just about ratings points. You may be getting better just not in ways you can easily see. Many people go much longer than 2 months without seeing any real improvement in their rating.

And when you start to see improvements in your rating,  you might see it as sudden big jumps, then levelling off again.

Hi,

do you want me to figure out, why you arent improving?

I'm a student and earning some money by training, so I have some experience and I'm not too expensive

First of all, thank you everyone for their help! What's discouraging at the moment is everyone I know, including my friends and foes, are ahead of me in terms of tournament scores. 

A. You really should not be sharing an account (especially one that is a paid for account). It is against the TOS. Having multiple accounts is also a no-no.

https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1444969-can-i-share-computers-with-another-member-

https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1444776-can-i-have-multiple-accounts-

In that case, I shall close this account, is this within the framework then?

What do you think is your biggest weakness? Do you understand and grasp the things you have seen from the chess videos? Do you apply them properly in your game? Do you always make elementary blunders?

Once you answered the questions here, you will know what steps you need to do to improve your game. Finaly, play more games at longer time control.

Weaknesses: I'm not really good or bad at anything in particular. I guess you could call me a jack of all trades but a master of none.

Videos: Things tend to stick with me for a long time if I choose to. The problem is, the videos improve my skills but I still am not "good" in real games.

Blunders: I've started using "Check your capture-checks, then checks, then captures, then threats", "What does this move do and no longer do" <--- when referring to moves both with me and my opponent. 

I don't think I will play blitz as it is just hope chess. Then again, I'm still puzzled, what do I do? I'm closing this account soon.

NB: I'm very unpredictable. Even applying checking what each move does and doesn't do, making plans according to the opening and my style, I still can't predict my skill level. My rating is around 1450, some days I can beat 1800 rated players, other days I play like a shameful 1200-1300 level.

Try practicing deliberatly, read some chess books by masters.

You're missing the biggest, single component of chess improvement for an active player.

STUDYING YOUR LOSSES. 

It almost doesn't matter what else you study - if you don't study your losses and AVOID repeating your errors, you're doomed to very limited improvement. 

Also, you'l find that when you study your loss in a position where you felt totally confused, if you encounter it again, things will be MUCH more logical and coherent. 

It also helps to select an opening that you stick to as white or black and just play it repeatedly for awhile. That way, when you get beaten, you can find the mistake in the postmortem, and avoid the same mistake in the future. If you just play random openings, you won't get this sort of improvement effect. 

As for blitz, it's hard until you're a better player, which will definitely involve memorizing quite a few opening lines (including the traps and setups). Without this chess 'vocabulary', you won't even make the time control in a 3 or 5 minute blitz game, which is part of why it seems like 'hope' chess. For a 1500ish blitz player like myself, the actual man-to-man chess game doesn't start until move 10, and in positions I'm familiar with, it can even be move 20 before I actually start having to think since I've played the exact same positions before and know that they're correct from past CPU (or master game) analysis.

Yep, it takes a lot of work, but probably not as much as you think. 

I agree but also ask any other stronger chess players you know to look over your games or get a private coach. I have a private coach and it really helped me get better.

For you, it may not be the problem at all or maybe only a very small part of the problem, but I thought I would mention that, for me, there is a big problem with watching videos in that they tend to go faster than I can follow.

Youtube's keyboard shortcut keys are your friend. 

My single favorite resource for strategic nontactical instruction are Varuzhan Akobian's St.Louis game reviews. I get better each time I watch them, seriously!

Maybe that will help.

"For many people with little time for chess the default option is internet blitz, in which the players have five minutes or less for the entire game. I cannot warn too strongly against taking this route if you want to improve, the problem being that playing too many games at a fast time limit will corrupt the decision making process. Instead of playing good moves, a player honed on blitz will look for moves he can make quickly and perhaps bring himself closer to a win on time. Needless to say, this is not a good way to play 'real' chess, and the habits acquired at faster time limits do spill over." - GM Nigel Davies (2010)

At least in the past, operating video controls has been difficult for me. Maybe I will try again.

I hate to sound a bit too negative, but...

Unless there's a systematic, targeted work on the game, improvement is highly unlikely. Even with a good training improvement is usually slow. I've been a Class B player forever because I've always been too lazy to work hard. Sure, I may have improved somewhat over the years by playing and learning a thing or two here & there but my approach has never been a systematic one. Hence, there was little improvement.

Chess is hard! :)

Coincidentially, I have just started doing this.

In round 6 of the tournament I am in, I was winning then spent 10 minutes on my next move which turned out to be losing. That game was yesterday which I eventually lost. Through my sleep I replayed that move all over again because I knew that was the move which led to my loss. (I am the type of person who needs to undergo pain and crying for about a week straight before I actually get anything done T^T) 

Otherwise, if I don't beat myself up about the blunders I make, I won't remember them. I beat myself up if I lose but not over a single move in a game unless that was the blunder that immediately led to a loss. :'(

I don't like random or offbeat openings. I have consistent openings I use, mostly depending on my mood or the opponent I am playing. All of these openings I elect to go into, I know theory for playing them.

well, Ok I'll chime in.  First chess.com is a rowdy place.  but not all of us are ethugs.

if I remember properly you played U2100?  that implies you saw some pretty strong opposition.

I think your expectations are simply set too high.  you admit that you had a long break from chess, right?  coming on here and playing Blitz isn't the only preparation you need for the rigours of a "standard" chess tournament.

here, chess games are minutes- in the tourney though, hours!  thats a long while to gather your thoughts and look deeper into the positions-  and if your not used to it- its easy to fold.  espacially against chessplayers that are used to the time control and are ready to fight for every pawn and slight positional advantage.

my strong recommendation is too calm down- play Online chess here- just a few games a day and REally USE the time.  get away from G3 blitz and G30 (at least)- ...

I'm not a guy that does a lot of tourneys but I DO know what its like;  tourney games are MUCH more intense and serious than these online ones.